The present invention relates to a process for alkylating paraffins with monoolefins. In another aspect, this invention relates to an alkylation process where one of the feed monoolefins is first oligomerized before its use as an alkylating agent.
Monoolefin (alkene) feedstocks for the alkylation of paraffins (alkanes) frequently contain propylene. Even though propylene is an effective alkylation agent, its use has undesirable effects: formation of propane Coy hydrogen transfer) as a byproduct which places a heavy load on a lights distillation column (called depropanizer), and high amounts of isopentane (which is relatively volatile and is not a good blending component for motor fuels) in produced alkylates.
The prior art teaches to take propylene out of an olefin feedstock (for paraffin alkylation), to dimerize the propylene, and to recombine the formed propylene dimers with the olefin feedstock, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,020. The present invention is an improvement over this prior art process.